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I have been breeding fancy rats* since 1993 and my stud-name is ``Toylandin". I started out with Hoodeds, took along Pink Eyed Whites (as it run in the Hooded lines) and finally fell in love with Silver Fawn as well. |
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My Rat Varieties |
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I have always been faithful to the varieties I breed, not changing from one variety to another when a certain colour or markings becomes fashionable within the or even with judges. This has enabled me to frat fancyully concentrate on the varieties I love. In fact, the varieties I breed are not popular at all - neither among rat owners nor other breeders. |
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Hooded is the variety often found in pet shops and being a difficult one, there are rarely Hoodeds shown. Furthermore, as Hooded is ``the pet shop rat", this beautiful variety has suffered from the questionable temperament and health of the pet shop Hoodeds.
Pink Eyed White is beautiful, but many rat owners dislike like the pink eyes. They are also harder to show with all the necessary washing.
Silver Fawns, well, maybe it's the eyes with them too. There are good Silver Fawns with lots of show potential as well, but they rarely interest rat owners |
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My Breeding |
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Toylandin rattery is a small one, with very small scale breeding and litters are planned carefully. I do not breed in order to have rats to sell, but in order to have rats of better quality. The quality stands for health, good temperament, longevity and the breed standards. I have and also will in the future turn down prospective buyers, if I suspect that my rats will not get the best of care.
New and occasional breeders are adviced to find homes for the rats they breed before even mating the rats. This is a good advice and I wholeheartedly promote it! You should always bear in mind that you are responsible for the rats you've bred and this responsibility most definitely includes finding homes for the babies who wouldn't be born without you! Dumping the babies to whatever pet shop is not the way to go.
I have chosen not to advertice actively. However, I am fully prepared to keep the rats I've bred if there aren't good homes available. Some of my rats get placed to new homes later on in life. |
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Toylandin Rattery at the Moment... |
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As I stated earlier, my rattery is small. Now my breeding is even slower than before, with only a couple of litters a year.
At the moment my Hooded breeding is ``on ice". It has been very hard to find any good quality rats for breeding, as I have been the only Finnish rat breeder breeding Hoodeds since the beginning. As time went by, the only options would have been getting pet shop rats or using heavy inbreeding. As I want to breed level-headed and healthy rats, I choce rather not to continue breeding Hoodeds actively before I find good enough rats to breed with.
Pink Eyed Whites I haven't had for over a year, when my last Pink Eyed White male, Toylandin En Esch died. I am hoping for obtaining PEW's in the future again.
Now I am concentrating on smooth and rex Silver Fawns. Next litter will be available around December 1998. |
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Show Success? |
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Over the years there have been a number of excellent, winning Toylandin rats. Some of these are rex Pink Eyed White buck SKeY Ch GG-95 Toylandin David Tibet, smooth Silver Fawn doe FIN & SKeY Ch VV-96 MP-95&96 TV-96 Toylandin Inanna, rex Agouti Hooded buck Toylandin Ässä, smooth Agouti Hooded doe Toylandin Yvette...
Toylandin rats have been exported to Sweden, in all the varieties I breed. Some of them have been succesful in shows there. |
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``Fancy rat" in the meaning of ``tame rat / pet rat". I use this term to differentiate pet rats from wild and lab rats. For me, this term does not mean a show rat or rat of newer, often rarer colours. Therefore, this kind of meanings should not be read into my text! |
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